Applied Technology Closes Third Venture Fund with $56.4 million; Continues to Enable Internet Entrants.

LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 1, 1996--Applied Technology, a venture capital firm investing in emerging U.S. information companies, recently had the final closing of its third fund, Technologies for Information & Entertainment III, L.P. (TIE III).

Through TIE III, Applied Technology will invest a total of $56.4 million in the information industry in the footsteps of its earlier funds, Technologies for Information & Publishing II (TIP II) established in April 1989 and Applied Technology Partners, L.P. (ATP) established in 1983.

With the addition of the final TIE III closing, Applied Technology now manages an overall portfolio of 22 active companies and more than $89.8 million in capital. In developing this newest fund, the firm has continued to expand aggressively into areas such as digital distribution and C++ development tools, and by adding five Internet-based companies, it continues to capitalize on the Internet market - an increasingly dominant force in the rapidly changing information industry. "The Internet, as the first new medium in 40 years, will be far larger than the television industry and will effect society in ways that are a multiple of TV's pervasive and massive subliminal influences." said managing general partner Frederick Bamber.

Applied Technology has teamed up with several long-standing members of its roster of corporate partners, who provided $33 million to launch TIE III. These partners include U.S. firms Hughes Aircraft Company, National Semiconductor Corporation, and NYNEX Corporation; British companies Pearson plc, a media company with holdings in information, education, and entertainment markets, and Cable & Wireless plc, a communications company operating worldwide; and CSK Corporation, a Japanese software and computer service company. The funding financial institutions provided $26.4 million. The companies in the TIE III portfolio include the following:

Connected Corporation, a service business, will provide enterprise-type computer services to individuals and small businesses. The first service is a fully featured back-up service (encrypted, secure, demand reloading, etc.) that will be accessible via easy-to-use telephone dial-up.

Internet Securities, Inc. is an electronic information provider delivering financial and business information on emerging markets, including news, corporate financials, prospectuses, and analysts reports as well as industry, money market, fixed income, and macro-economic information. The company operates from offices and servers in Pittsburgh, Warsaw, and London; and the service is accessible via the Internet (URL: http://www.securities.com/) and direct dial-up.

MarketKnowledge, Inc. develops software and services to provide a point-of-sale "work environment" for brokers of packaged financial products (mutual funds and annuities). The software, LifeScript, uses the financial planning process as its organizing principle, builds and maintains a database for customer information that can be used for both sales and regulatory compliance purposes, and provides on-line electronic access to current product data. The software is also designed to be used by individual investors if the market moves more towards no-load products (i.e., those purchased directly by the consumer, without a broker).

Virtual Vineyards (a.k.a. Net Contents) is developing a "proprietary interactive marketing engine" that gives consumers a personalized on-line shopping experience while allowing retailers to run volume-oriented back-end processes. The engine is a collection of knowledge bases and rules-driven software that generates personalized information on demand in real-time. The knowledge bases contain information including customer purchase history, preference profiles, and product profiles. The company is also using its technology to create a new distribution channel for marketing premium and hard-to-get food and wine products.

In February 1995, Cybersmith, Inc. opened its pilot full-service retail store/cafe with 58 computer stations, where consumers can discover the latest information and gaming technologies and explore the Internet, on-line services, computer games, CD-ROMs, video games, flight simulators, and virtual reality. Based on consumer acceptance and proof of economic viability, the pilot store may expand nationally by year-end 1996.

HumanCode, Inc. is an interactive multimedia title developer and publisher leveraging an extensive software base of interactive routines and authoring environments and an experienced creative team. HumanCode has produced 10 different multimedia titles. It recently released its title development software bundled as a multimedia authoring software program. Applied Technology has also co-invested funds from TIP II in the company.

NewCode Technology, Inc. sells development tools to companies with large-scale C++ projects. The company's initial products were a code optimizer, Cback, and a general purpose memory manager, MTS. While delivering and supporting these products, NewCode developed advanced compiler technology to deliver a new generation of C++ tools and components that address the code development process while providing unique technology for enhanced application functionality.

Also funded by TIP II, ProLinx has developed a proprietary "antifuse via" interconnect technology for high performance mass market packages for integrated circuits' and that will be licensed for high-density, but lower cost multilayer printed circuit boards (PCBs). Its "antifuse via" technology is a cost-effective alternative to conventional mechanically drilled interconnects of PCBs. ProLinx currently has one patent pending (and nine others in process) as a result of its work during the 24 months between its inception and Applied Technology's investment.

BTrieve Technologies, Inc. (BTI) is a leading provider of high-performance P database engines bundled with commercial applications and sold to small- and medium-sized companies and departments within large organizations. BTI's products are utilized by over 50,000 software developers and are marketed through resellers. Applied Technology has also co-invested funds from TIP II in the company.

Reflection Technology develops, manufactures, sells, and licenses a family of ultra-miniaturized display devices that can be held close to the eye, clipped to eyeglasses, or built directly into an electronic device. The patented technology is targeted for a new generation of products including virtual reality game systems, full-page wireless fax receivers, radio pagers, pocket computers, portable instruments, and other communications and consumer electronic products. Applied Technology has now invested money from all three of its funds in the company.

Applied Technology, a private venture capital firm based in Lexington, Massachusetts, was founded in 1983 and has offices in Austin, Texas and Los Altos, California. The company operates with a team of three managing partners-Frederick Bamber, a former executive at Data Resources (DRI); David Boucher, the former CEO of Interleaf; and Thomas Grant, a former senior manager at DRI and Softbridge Systems-and two part-time general partners, Eugene Flath, a founder and former senior vice president of Intel Corporation, and Professor Nicholas Negroponte, the founder and director of MIT's Media Laboratory.

Please note our other office locations are 1001 West Avenue, Suite B, Austin Texas 78701; and 1010 El Camino Real, Suite 300, Menlo Park, CA 94025.

CONTACT: Fred Bamber

Imelda Kenny

Applied Technology

[phone]

[e-mail]